Keiken no Onna
by EC-Chan
Summary: After Chi Chi left Gokou she remembered him telling her how she could climb to Kami's Lookout, but is this really a good idea? What answers, if any, will she find from Korran and Piccolo? CC/Pi, G/B, B/Y, T/G/P, T/M, V/P *Sequel to Akki no Onna*
1. I

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**Title:** Keiken no Onna

**Author:** EC-Chan

**Disclaimer:** Don't own DBZ.

**AN:** Wow isn't the title original? -.-;; Okay… this is a sequel to Akki no Onna, but I tried to make it so you didn't hafta read it before you read this. So there's my little….note thingy. Now read! ^^;

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***Dedicated to:* **This fic is for Sya-Chan because I would not have even bothered to write it if she hadn't asked me too and was nice enough to come up with ideas to help me out. Thanks Sya-chan! ^^;

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**_Italics_**** = flashback**

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Hot white pain clouded the edge of Son Chi Chi's vision as she reached up once more; grasping a ridge in the tall column she clung to, her long since overused muscles screaming in protest. She gritted her teeth and pulled herself slowly upward, her feet nearly missing the perch just above her previous position.

She knew that she was getting nowhere fast- or at least somewhere extraordinarily slowly. She doubted that she would be able to make it much higher, however, so perhaps the nowhere part wasn't exactly untrue. After she had first left Gokou she had been wandering around the city aimlessly, not quite sure where she wanted to go from there.

A long time ago- or so it seemed to her- Gokou had told her about one of his adventures before they were married when he met a little Indian boy named Uupa whose father told him a legend about how if a person climbed to the top of this strange column, the person at the top would increase their strength. She remembered how this was the first time he had met Koran: a cat who provided those dratted Sensu beans later on.

She had no interest in Koran, nor the added strength, (though she thought that it would be nice), but was interested instead with that fact that a human _could_ climb to the top of the poll and reach Kami's Lookout. It was possible and so she would do it- no matter how long it would take. 

She had already spent nearly four months trying to climb this thing already, and even if each time she fell before she could even see the top, she took encouragement from the fact that each time she was able to climb much higher.

The reason for the delay was probably not even the fault of her tired muscles, but lay in her own weary mind. Each time she got just a little bit higher on that column her mind flitted back to Gokou; wondering at first how long it took _him_ to reach the top which would lead her to remember his supernormal strength and then ultimately those four horrible days were everything went from bad to worse.

She gritted her teeth not against the pain, but the memories now flooded forth against her restraint. She saw it all again more clearly then she had that day: __

_They were standing there waiting for them, two green and one black face indistinguishable from the hovercraft's warped glass windows._

Four days ago she had helped convince Bulma's adopted daughter not to search for Bura until the next morning, making her eat a proper meal, and threaten to chain her to her bed unless she promised to stay put. She had slept in her bed, but was gone before anyone else even thought of waking up.

What Akki had told them the night before had left them with an uncomfortable foreboding. It had turned out that she actually was Son Pan in a different time period and after Pilaf wished on the dragon that Gokou was turned into his obedient servant as well as evil, he had murdered everyone except Pan and Bulma. Akki had spent a year with her "Aunty B" in a secret lab on an island before the warning lights flickered on, signaling that someone with a high power was heading their way.

Akki hadn't been sure what had happened at the time, Bulma had given her some sort of drug that made her forget her memories until Gokou's turning reawakened them and sent her to the past with only a note for Bulma's present self asking the woman to take the small child in. Akki had known only two things for sure: that Gokou could not hurt the present Pan for an unknown reason, and that if somehow Gokou wasn't stopped then everyone present, and who knew how many other peoplee, would die.

With that cheery thought to sustain them, the group of friends of the missing persons (the didn't know where Vegeta, Trunks, Goten, Bura, and Pan where: they had all mysteriously disappeared earlier that day, though they knew that Gokou had kidnapped Bura) sat around at Capsule Corporation, completely lost at what to do. After four days of this state of worried existence, Bulma had decided that enough was enough so everyone piled into her aircraft and speeded towards Kami's Lookout. And so here they were, landing in a fluid, well thought out motion that was only achieved because the autopilot was on.

Bulma was the first person to unstrap herself from her seat and thrust her way angrily through the opening. So while the others, including Chi Chi, all hurried after her, she was the one who got there first, so to speak. Not that any of us minded.

"Okay mister," Bulma pointed to the tall green Namek standing on Dende's right. "You are going to tell us what is going on and you are going to tell it now!"

_Dende smiled pacifyingly, "Mrs. Briefs' this will all be over in a few minutes and then you can ask your husband-."_

"What. Did. You. Do?" Bulma practically roared. 

_Chi Chi didn't blame her- these two green men thought that they could show up from their green little planet and boss Earthlings around just because they were stupid enough to get their own planet destroyed. Not only that, but they had the _gale_ to bring her husband, two sons, _and_ granddaughter into whatever mess this was. Of course since her husband was the one causing the trouble (though she knew it was probably the Nameks' faults to begin with somehow anyway) she couldn't say anything. See she did have self-control despite what everyone thought._

_Piccolo frowned, "What has happened was done willingly."_

_"Are you saying my husband _wanted_ to go insane and try to kill everyone?!" Chi Chi huffed angrily, hands automatically fastening onto her hips. Even though she had just decided to remain silent, she would not stand around and listen to him insult her _husband_._

_"No, no- he just meant what Vegeta and the others have done," Dende tried to cover him quickly, but that, of course, only made the two women even more agitated._

_"And what exactly have they done?" Bulma asked evenly, though her face betrayed her growing rage._

_Both Nameks took the opportunity to back up. A lot. It was a well-known fact that either of them in such a state alone was not something _anyone_ wanted to deal with. But to try to sort things out calmly and rationally with both of them together? That would only be a mistake only a suicidal person would make._

_But it didn't look like they had much of a choice in the moment._

_So the brave Namek fused with his "father", Nail, and Kami, took a step forward and cleared his throat, "Nothing you should be concerned with at the moment."_

_Dende and Popo fell over, knowing that the supposedly wise Namek had just sealed their fate. Dende smiled nervously, "Well- I have been neglecting my duties in light of the- er seriousness of this new situation, but everything seems to be turning out fine now, so if you'll excuse me."_

_"Hold it right there buster," Chi Chi said, pointing her hand at Dende. The much younger of the two Nameks, who had been turning around in hopes that his plan of escape had succeeded, stopped and slowly turned back, suddenly looking very wilted._

_"Uh, yes?" He asked, shifting from foot to foot. "Could I help you ladies with something? Popo could go and get you some refreshments while you're waiting."_

_Popo jumped at the offer, "Yes- would you like some beverages? Food? I just pulled the asparagus from the garden today and am planning to use one of my mother's old recipes to make a stew…."_

_He trailed off, noticing the quite hostile looks the two women were giving him, and the bemused looks from all the others. Bulma was the one who took a step towards the gardener, her blue eyes flashing in anger._

_"If _some_one- I don't care who- does not start explaining what has been going on this instant…." She gritted her teeth and clenched her hands by her side. "Well I don't know what I'll do, but I'll do something!"_

_No one said anything for a moment, and then Videl stepped forward, her own angry black eyes picking up where Bulma left off. "**I** know what I am going to do to you three if you don't start explaining fast and it certainly is not pleasant. So I suggest you start slowly, from the beginning."_

_The trio looked blankly at them for a moment as if to ask, 'The beginning?'_

_18 frowned and them and clarified, "How did Gokou turn evil?"_

_"Well….we weren't actually there," Dende stumbled._

_"Dende," Gohan said, his voice passive, but his tone commanding, and the younger being squirmed under his friend's steady glance. "What happened to my dad?"_

_"It was three people…." Piccolo said, in a brusque tone. "They summoned the dragon as you all know, and panicked when they saw Gokou. They seemed to recognize him for some reason. The short one in the middle, named Pilaf-."_

_But Bulma broke through, "Yes we know about Pilaf. But what did they exactly wish for?"_

_"That Gokou would be evil and be his slave," Piccolo said, and then continued on as if this was no important in the least. No. Not unimportant, he just didn't want to dwell on it. "When Vegeta killed Pilaf, Gokou was released from the latter half of the wish, but he was still evil."_

_"Was?" Bulma prompted suspiciously._

_"I told you- everything is under control," Piccolo said smoothly. "Akki held him off for three days until Gohan and Trunks came out of the Room of Spirit and Time, and then the next day Vegeta and Pan came out-."_

"Pan?" Videl paled considerably, and Gohan put a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder.

_"Piccolo," there was a dangerous edge in his voice, "Why was Pan in the Time Chamber?"_

_"She was the only one who could return Gokou to normal," Piccolo explained calmly enough._

_Bulma stared at him for a moment, her face going completely white, "You didn't….you couldn't possibly of used…._it._ Did you?"_

_Neither Namek nor gardener said anything._

_"Bulma?" Yamcha reached out a hand to calm her, but she jerked away from his touch._

_"You used it, didn't you?!" She said angrily. "I _knew_. I **knew** that I shouldn't've tampered with time. But I thought that I would be nice and I'll admit that the idea of being able to do something like that intrigued me, but how could you use it?! It's not even done! You don't even know what the side effects could be….! How old are they?"_

_Everyone was staring at her as if she had gone quite mad by now._

_"Bulma, calm down," Yamcha said soothingly. "They're only two years older at the most. You know that."_

_"No. They. Aren't," She bite out, thrusting her finger in the Time Chamber's general direction. "I made a mechanism where you could slow time down in that Chamber even further then a year! For all we know my husband and son could be fifty years older then what they were four days ago! So tell me Namek- how. Old. Are. They?"_

_There was a complete and utter silence. Videl let out a muffled sob and covered her mouth with her hands. Chi Chi simply stared at the Nameks impassively, aware of nothing else but her own pounding heart. Gohan wasn't paying attention to his wife anymore, his own hands shaking in anger or fear. Bulma still stood with her arm poised midair, breathing heavily, and waiting. Everyone else stood there in their stupor, Bulma's words slowly seeping into their minds._

_How old are they?_

_"Goten and Trunks are only a year older," Dende finally said quietly. "For Pan and Vegeta….we needed Pan to be eighteen."_

_Videl's throat caught and she let out a muffled sob, falling to her knees. Gohan stared listlessly at his old friend, his face in utter disbelieving shock and horror._

_"Twelve years," was all he could say, his voice cracking around those words. "Twelve years…."_

_Bulma bit her lip, and her hand slowly returned to her side. She couldn't look at Videl or Gohan. Chi Chi knew she must feel awful, considering it was her invention, which was able to bring this about. "Why?" was all she wanted to know._

_"To….perform the ceremony," Dende said helplessly, looking incredibly guilty. "To be able to save the Gokou and the rest of the universe- she had to be the new Gaurdian."_

_"Let me get this straight," Krillin said, his small usually lighthearted eyes focusing on Dende. "You took away twelve years of a little girl's life just because for some reason you need a **third** guardian of Earth?"_

_"She had the power, and we needed her to use it to save Gokou," Dende said._

_"Krillin," 18 said, stopping her husband from continuing._

_"What about Bura," Bulma said softly, after a moment._

_Dende fidgeted, looking extremely regretful, "You have to understand- he wasn't himself when he did it…."_

_"Who did what?" Bulma asked shortly._

_"Gokou," Piccolo said. Did Chi Chi see compassion mixed into his normally stoic expression? "As you know he kidnapped Bura. He….bonded with her."_

_"What do you mean he bonded with her?!" Bulma and Chi Chi shouted at the same time. Piccolo remained silent, his expression grim._

_"Gokou wouldn't do that!" Chi Chi said fiercely. "No matter how evil he would never do something that disgusting to a child."_

_"Vegeta and Pan….heard it happen," Piccolo said shortly._

_That certainly stopped Chi Chi in her tracks. "They….heard it?"_

_"Yes, but they couldn't do anything at the time- not if they wanted to have a chance at saving the universe," Piccolo said._

_Bulma was silent for a moment, but when she spoke her voice was clipped in distaste. "You've all gone too far this time. This certainly does top it all! You'll ignore an innocent child's plea for help and count it as a necessary sacrifice in order to fulfill your plan to save the universe?!"_

_"If they had gone to help her then they would have died," Piccolo said calmly._

"Vegeta wouldn't just sit there," She shook her head. "You're lying- he wouldn't just sit there and do nothing! Especially if he heard her! He would have saved her- damn the universe! Damn-." 

_Her tirade was cut off when Yamcha wrapped his arms around her and she turned and sniffled into his chest, her eyes squeezing shut, trying to block out all of the mental images that came from her new knowledge._

_Chi Chi stood there, trying desperately to come to grips with reality. And then she heard a loud "SLAP!"_

_18 stood towering over her daughter, blue eyes incredibly angry. "Stupid irresponsible…ARG!"_

_"18," Krillin said in stunned horror, trying to grab her arm, but she threw him off her, flinging him across the tile. _

_"Mama," Marron crouched on the ground, holding her hands over her face, tears streaming out of her eyes, "I didn't mean for it to happen! I didn't know! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."_

_Chi Chi winced at the girl's words. She was supposed to have been babysitting Bura when Gokou kidnapped her right in front of her eyes. If she had kept Bura where they were supposed to be then Gokou would not have been close enough to grab her. But Akki had blamed herself that night- saying that she should have felt their kis. But if Marron had done her job….but then who could blame a seventeen year old for messing up? How could she have known? Still Chi Chi felt more like blaming the girl then forgiving her at the moment._

_Surprisingly Tien was the one who stepped in front of the girl when 18 raised her hand to strike another blow, "She didn't know."_

_"Stay out of my way," 18 growled, her face a mask of anger. "How dare you! Get out of my way!"_

_"18," Krillin gently folded his hands around his wife's balled up fists, and slowly coaxed her to relax. "She didn't know- you can't blame her. No one blames her or you. Neither of you could have known."_

_Tien bent down awkwardly and rested a consoling hand on the girl's head. She sniffled, and then straightened, blue eyes questioning._

Chi Chi gritted her teeth, willing herself not to cry, but it was a battle she was slowly losing. After all these weeks….months, she still could not forget any of it…. She had wasted so much of her life on him already and now she was continuing to waste it, just because she was so lost without him.

Even though he was gone most of the time- even though she was left with nothing from him time after time again. Well that wasn't true…. He always left her something, without even thinking about it. First it was Gohan and then Goten. So she could forgive him for the sake of them, but now….now the only thing he had given her was her own heart torn out of her chest.

She might be being a little overdramatic about it, but who could really blame her? He had bonded with a six year-old! Even if he was not in his right mind at the time- it still had happened! And not only that, but he was the reason why her granddaughter was no longer six, but eighteen! And in a warped way also bonded with Vegeta of all people. There were so many things that he had done in those last few days and even before that that was unforgivable.

No one could blame her for leaving him….

Chi Chi attempted to smile at him when he landed in front of her, but her eyes were empty, devoid of even her normal angry fire. He looked so….she couldn't find any words or a heart to explain it. She had known him since she was a child, even though she had barely ever seen him, but still in their time together she had been able to memorize his every feature- recognize his ever mood. She had thought she understood him as well as she'd ever be able too, but still what he had done to Bura and everyone else was too much. Even for him.

No. Not even for him- she would never think he was capable of doing something so….so horrible. Even if he was evil at the time, there was no way for her to….she didn't even know what. Forgive? He had done something unforgivable. Forget? How could she when every time she would see the blue haired girl she would have horrible visions in her mind of things that could never be forgotten?

It just took her to see him- his shoulders slouched in defeat and haggard face- for her to know that she didn't want to leave him no matter what he did, but she couldn't stay with him. She could see that right away: Bulma had told her what Vegeta said about bonding. How it was impossible to be bonded to a different race and then how if the bonded mate dies….well she knew what it would do to him- how he would be hurting and how she could never hope to take care of him. It wasn't that she wanted to or wasn't willing to try to help- it was that she couldn't even hope to help. And that deep down she really didn't want to help.

  
"I wanted you to know that I'm leaving you," She finally said. He stared at her, not looking shocked, but definitely looking flustered.

  
"Chi Chi- I know-."  
  
She pressed a finger to his lip, "I know Gokou. I know. Please don't try to stop me."  
  


Chi Chi stifled a sob, and finally realized that she had been clinging to the column without moving, trying her best not to cry for a while now. Very stiffly, she reached up and tried to grab hold of another section above her to take her mind off that last scene….the last time she had seen him: only she couldn't seem to get a good grip.

Her arm was shaking now, and her fingers were slick with sweat and kept on slipping. She was going to fall. Taking a deep, calming breath, she looked up and frowned angrily. Blackness was creeping to the edge of her vision and she thought that she could almost make out….well something other then endless column. But it couldn't be the top….could it?

She sighed, and with new determination, clenched her shaky fingers on smooth stone. Knowing that she could slip off at any moment, she raised her leg and sought another ridge. She found it, and now raised her other hand- this was the most dangerous part and she was sure that she would fall, but she found another ridge and without thinking this time raised her last foot.

She didn't fall. Now, without pausing, she continued on, gritting her teeth against the pain and blackness. Left Hand. Left Foot. Right Hand. Right Foot. She continued in a methodical pattern until she couldn't feel anymore. The column retreated into nothing and she had the strangest sensation that she was floating.

She almost thought she heard Gokou say softly behind her, "I love you." And then she was falling backwards like a feather, softly floating to the ground. Finally blackness consumed her just as she began to realize that she was no longer a feather but a boulder, and was almost positive that she was hurtling downwards instead of floating.

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Yay ^^;. I finally got around to writing a sequel;. Sorry for the long wait ^^;. The next chapter should be up sometime within a week, and this'll only be about three or four chappies. So hope you liked it and sorry again for the wait.

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	2. II

**Title:** Keiken no Onna

**Chapter 2:** Standing on Two Feet

**Author:** EC-Chan

**Disclaimer:** Don't own DBZ.

AN: I was just informed that it's been over a year and I really need to update this story by Allison. . I am so sorry that it has taken so long to update this….but yelling at me to update is a good way to get more apparently… (I have no excuse but it was a busy year, writer's block, and I am trying to stop writing ff but it is like a drug lol .)

**Dedicated to: **This fic is for Sya-Chan because I would not have even bothered to write it if she hadn't asked me too and was nice enough to come up with ideas to help me out. Thanks Sya-chan! ;

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**_Italics_**** = flashback (if they actually work that is glares at last chappy…)**

Chi Chi didn't know when she woke up. For so long now she had greeted sleep with heavy weariness and woken instantaneously to aching muscles and a clenching heart. But today was different. Instead of finding herself suddenly conscious, the full burden of her troubles upon her, her mind had slowly drifted blankly into awareness and if she had been in complete control of her thoughts at the moment then she would have worried if she had damaged more then a few brain cells in her fall.

She remembered seeing the top. It was so clearly fixated in her mind that she couldn't **help **but to remember it. She had almost made it there and had slipped…. at least she supposed she had slipped, though it might have been she had simply fallen.

She also remembered her dream. She had been a feather floating in the sky and then suddenly realized that she couldn't possible be a feather and illogically as most dreams are she sped up upon this realization. Then something strange happened: she had expected the impact; **wanted** the impact….but there had been none. It was as if someone had stopped her midair so that she couldn't even return to being the feather and dragged her upwards into warm strange arms….alien to her. Then the blankets were tucked around her and she must have fallen into a deeper sleep because the next thing she knew the sun was annoyingly glaring on her closed eyelids.

Smiling to herself, she knew she considered the dream to be not mild, but one of the best dreams she had had in weeks. It was the first time she had dreamed of her own comfort anyway…..of someone lifting her up and helping her get on track in her miserable life. But then she frowned, knowing quite suddenly that she didn't want to be on track. She wanted this peacefulness for a little while longer; the ability to wallow in her misery and adding to it physically.

It had been years since she had allowed herself to train. Actually the last time she had done so was when Goten was a little boy and she had been teaching him…. that had surprised Gohan and she chuckled at the memory of her other son's expression when he had been told by his brother.

That was one thing she regretted; being so hard on Gohan. Goten was the son she had given the opposite extreme….so wild like his father. Truth be told she had **wanted** him to be like his father then. She simply couldn't find it in her heart to be strict to him as she had to Gohan.

Now her memories were getting bittersweet, so she rolled over, trying to move to a position where the sun wasn't quite so annoying and stopped when she felt herself almost being confined by something. Her eyes snapped open and she let out a gasp of surprise: she was lying in a queen sized bed under a mound of neutral but warm and fluffy blankets in a room with white walls and one shadeless window that had given her the false reassurance that she was still in the clearing in the woods.

Untangling herself as if she had just been bitten by some disease-ridden animal, she stumbled away from the bed, backing into the wall, noting now the door on the only side she hadn't looked at. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest, wondering where she was and how she had gotten there and then a few seconds later, what whoever it was wanted from her.

As if someone had been waiting for a signal, her door sounded from the pounding on the other side of it, and she glared at it distrustingly. The knob turned inward and she looked around desperately for some kind of weapon and seeing none, crouched down in her fighting position.

"Miss Chi Chi?" A tentative voice asked and Chi Chi straightened immediately in annoyed relief.

"Mr. Popo….." She said his name slowly and paused, wondering what she should say. Well she might as well try and get some of her previous questions answered…. "How did I get here?"

The black faced gardener stepped inside the door nervously. "Piccolo brought you in last night. You were unconscious so I told him to put you in here."

"Piccolo?" Chi Chi asked in confusion. Why would he have anything to do with this? "Why?" Her eyes narrowed.

Popo shifted his weight. "He saw you fall from the column and caught you since you were in obviously no condition to sustain the fall. Dende said you had three broken ribs already and a bit of internal bleeding before he healed you."

"Dende healed me?" Chi Chi hissed, liking this less and less.

"Why yes," Popo said in surprise. "Did you expect him to leave you there injured? They were both surprised that you were able to make it that far up the column as it was."

Chi Chi pursed her lips, tempted to scream irrationally at the poor man (though she wasn't quite sure if he could be considered a man), but in the end simply didn't have enough energy to do anything more then simply go back and sit on the bed. She looked back up at Popo and asked resignedly, "How did you know I was up?"

"I didn't," he said, surprised. "I've been checking to see if you were awake every half hour since I've been awake myself. I wanted to know when I should start preparing breakfast. I got the most lovely-."

She cut him off before he had a chance to go into any detail of his garden. Rationally she knew that he was excited because normally neither Namek would eat anything besides their glass of water (not that that was eating….), but she simply didn't have the patience. "I'm going to go back down."

But Mr. Popo shook his head. "I'm afraid that's impossible. Piccolo already has brought all of your things up. They're waiting for you just outside your door; he didn't wish to intrude while you were asleep." Chi Chi snorted at this but Popo went on as if she had remained silent, "I'll go start breakfast then….your things are just outside if you wish to change. You can bring them in and unpack if you'd like. For now this shall be your room until you are ready to leave."

And before Chi Chi could ask what he meant by his last statement, slightly annoyed, he was gone, the door closing behind him with a gently slap. She frowned at it as if it had offended her in some way and twisted it open rather quickly, grabbed her luggage and dragged them easily into the room despite their heavy weight. She was used to it.

"If they think I'm staying here because they want me to," She muttered angrily under her breath but unpacked nonetheless.

It turned out that the two Nameks and gardener meant for her to stay until whatever business she hoped to accomplish was finished. It didn't seem as if Dende knew what she was thinking to do and she had wondered why but then shrugged it away when she realized **she** wasn't even sure what she was doing here.

It started out with her wanting to prove herself. Yes, she saw that now. She wanted to show Gokou that she could make it without his strength, proving it the only way she knew how. However twisted that way was, she realized dryly. That and she had hoped ridiculously that by climbing to the top of the column and reaching Corran's Tower (Mr. Popo had been eager to fill her in on other details she hadn't know about that) that she would be able to forget Gokou. That'd she'd be finally free and be able to move on.

But she was only fooling herself.

As it was she didn't know why she was there on Kami's Lookout and had been simply wandering around exploring it for a few days now, not having anything else to do. They had given her free reign and although she saw both Dende and Mr. Popo on occasion, not once had she seen Piccolo and his absence was beginning to both annoy and bother her. She wanted desperately to know why he had caught her.

Or was that really it? She couldn't help but remember what he had done to her family. She still blamed him for everything that had happened, as insane and unjustified as that was. He had done what he had thought was right. They all had done so. Even Gokou.

She shouldn't blame any of them really for just not seeing how events would affect her and Bulma and everyone else who couldn't keep up with their rapid actions anymore. They were looking out for Earth as a whole, of course they would miss the results of their actions on a personal level. Who are we but the abused, she asked herself scornfully.

That of course was what tore her up even more. On one side Gokou left her for years on end without saying a word to her; simply expecting her to be there waiting for him when he came back. On the other he had good reason to be away; his one never-ending goal to save Earth. The scale had tipped in either's balance so many times before and she hated him always for putting her in such a position not only once but every chance he had.

It was no wonder she was so against Gohan training….

She shook her head to clear it, realizing that since she had left her husband she had had this conversation with herself way too many times. It wasn't as if any of the facts would change…. She was on her own never-ending quest to find a way to reassure herself that she alone was right. That she had every right to divorce him even though it still felt like he was still attached.

And she could have the conversation a hundred times again with herself, picking up from any topic….she had to stop this, she told herself and walked a little faster. For the first time in a long while she took in her surroundings.

"Ah, I see you have finally made it down here," a short pure white cat said as he hobbled towards her on a cane. "I have been expecting you for some time now."

Around her was the oddest assortment of buckets and other various items in what otherwise appeared to be a fairly livable **and** homely room. Knowing instinctively that she had somehow found her way into Corran's lookout, she had turned just in time to see Corran himself.

"Why have you been expecting me?" Chi Chi asked with a frown. "I didn't even mean to come down here…."

"Very few people make it here without meaning to," Corran said quietly. "And you Miss Chi Chi are not one of those few. I have been watching your attempts at climbing the tower for some time now. I dared hope that you would have made it by yourself well before now."

Chi Chi gave him a disbelieving frown. "You were watching me?" Instead of commenting on anything else he had said, she pulled this out of his jumble of words and took offense to it.

"It is a little hard not to," Corran said, waving his hand towards one of his buckets of water.

Very reluctantly Chi Chi edged towards it and stared, her mouth agape in amazement at what she distinctly saw in it: the pole she had just spent the last month or so trying to climb. How on earth….? She looked back at Corran who had a very pleased look on his face.

"The last woman I had up here was Marron," the cat admitted suddenly. "You're a bit older, but….would you like so lunch?"

Chi Chi stared at him blankly. "Marron? As in 18's daughter or that wretched girlfriend Krillin had that one time?"

"His girlfriend," Corran said chuckling a bit.

"I think I'll head back upstairs," Chi Chi decided, not liking the look on his face.

"You may come back at any time to visit," Corran said solemnly, reattaining the solemness from the beginning of this conversation.

"Thank you," Chi Chi said, not really knowing what else to say as she edged for the staircase that led her back upstairs. She did not like how that cat had looked at her before….especially with the mention of Marron.

Once back upstairs she continued her wandering until she ran into Popo who ushered her inside for lunch.

She spent the afternoon in Popo's gardens, ignoring his incessant babble about everything in it and just taking a look around. Popo was a very good gardener and everything was arranged in such a lovely way that she found momentary peace in viewing it.

Before Popo could leave to prepare dinner, Chi Chi had stopped him, suddenly unable to prevent herself from asking him a question that had been plaguing her mind for the last couple days. She had been trying to be patient, but this was just too much…. "Where is he?" Chi Chi blurted out angrily. "Hiding from me? What's the big idea of him bringing me up here and then not even being around for me to thank him if I wanted to?"

Popo's eyes widened, "Mr. Piccolo?"

"Yes!" Chi Chi said angrily, crossing her arms and waiting for a reply. "Him!"

"He has been out training…." Popo trailed off, losing his will to speak as Chi Chi's expression filled with dark anger. "He didn't think you would want to see him…."

"And where is Dende then?" Chi Chi asked, it suddenly accruing to her that she yet to see him as well. "Does he think that I don't want to see him either?" Mr. Popo nodded. "Honestly!" She huffed. "If I didn't want to see either of them, then how logical would it be for me to attempt to climb this tower?!"

"The would not blame you for not wanting to see them…." Mr. Popo attempted to explain. "They regret how much they have hurt you…."

"Where's Dende?" Chi Chi snapped. Piccolo might well be off training in some wilderness she'd never be able to reach before he decided to come back on foot, but she knew Dende had to stay at the Lookout for the majority of the time.

"In the sacred chambers I believe, but I would not go in there unless you were a guardian," Popo said quickly. "Why don't you wait for Piccolo? He said he would be back after dinner."

Chi Chi had half a mind to ignore Popo's warning and to go barging in on Dende, but she quickly controlled her temper. Piccolo was the one of the two Namek's she would rather see anyway and she could wait until after dinner to see him.

To Chi Chi's consternation Piccolo did not arrive right after dinner as she had expected. In fact, it was well past nightfall and she was still waiting for him. Popo assured her numerous times by now that yes, he was coming and no he had never said a specific time, just after dinner.

Minutes crawled into hours and Chi Chi was beyond annoyed now with the tardy alien. She would wait for him all night if she had to; it was simply her nature. In fact, she would still be waiting for him come morning if he didn't return as he promised. She was too stubborn for her own good…

Fortunately, this was not the case. Just as she was beginning to look around for a nice place to sit and was contemplating on asking Popo for a comfortable chair or at least a blanket, she saw a speck of green in the far horizon.

"Finally," she breathed, a frown tightening on her lips. "It's about time!"

She waited patiently for Piccolo to land on the Lookout before stalking over to him, her hands on her hips. "Where on earth have you been?" She demanded.

I didn't mean for Popo to have more then a smaller role in this story, but I think a larger role is kind of fitting for this chapter at least lol…

I don't know when I'll next update this .…. If all else fails yell at me =.=… But I will try to put more up within a few days, and have all of it up by the time I go to school at the latest since it's only going to be a couple more chapters. This is really bad that I haven't finished this already . gomen nasai…


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